Tank ready for live stock?

Rabbid dawg

Rabbid dawg

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I've just tested my Aquariums water parameters again after running it for two weeks. 3rd test so far
The first week showed no ammonia or nitrites but 5ppm nitrate
week two and I'm at 10ppm nitrates but no ammonia or nitrite. Despite feeding the mini maxi anemones that came on my live rock with lance fish and mysis due to the lack of light while I build my diy led.
It is possible that using 2nd hand live rock and seachem stability has given me a free pass?
115liter cube 7 kg live rock and 500gr seachem Matrix seeded with stability.
 
As someone else who just started a tank, using secondhand rock doesn't really give you a free pass. My nitrates went up slowly, they spiked the fourth day, then went to about 25ppm after four weeeks, the pet shops test doesn't even go that high, I had to test it at the municipality, lmao. I don't know a whole lot about marine tanks yet, though, I won't for a long while, but I think you should wait a bit before adding new fish. Maybe add some stability too to help get your bio system up and running, it takes 24 hours to 7 days to work, so I added some each day for a week, and it helped immensely. Check your water for other things too, such as phosphates and silicates, as I found if my tank had these in from the water, algea started to grow, I actually ended up with this from the sand. All my LPS have been very helpful in my startup process too, as they do free water tests. I had to wait 2 months until my cycle was complete, and I still have minor problems like salinity going from 1.026 to 1.027 with evaporation and 1.025 with top ups. As stated, I don't know much, but this is just what I have found. Also make sure your temperature is stable, but maybe wait for someone with more experience to give some advice as well before adding fish.
 
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Since it is still cycling take it easy wait rather. If you add something at any stage of the cycle it speeds up the whole process into over drive and you end up exceeding parameters that the live stock can Handle and hence they die. Live rock and stability will help but 2 weeks it's too short to tell.
 
Thank you for all the advice. I decided not to add fish but added a toadstool some zoas and a blue legged hermit. I will monitor the parameters and keep adding stability for the next week and see what happens. . My substrate is Red sea Fiji pink aragonite.
 
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Good call to wait. If your parameters are zero for a few days, you can add some snails and hermits - just a couple - to get a bit of life in there. Good luck!
 
Tested the parameters last night. All looking good. Just took a while to find a spot for the mushroom coral. Turns out that almost right in front of the powered is just right.
 
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